AleksandraSucur

Maybe your attention is too much focused on FL's desperate attempt to win ML over, not knowing ML doesn't care about her sister at all, he is the first one who confused her with her sister while being actually interested in her.
Imo, the screenwriting intentionally uses this confusion - and yes, intentionally drags with this misunderstanding - to divert the audience's attention from the important plotline issues, like the key problems with that state (Yang Ling is within a game, and solving problems and puzzles are the goal of any game), what is truly off there, the identity of the realm sect members and why they will be important for solving the aforementioned issues and so on.
When important things get disclosed, the watchers are surprised, asking themselves "why haven't I paid attention to this or that?"

Wang Hedi actually performs this salesman role very convincingly. I don't understand one word of Mandarin, but that talk, talk, talk, the way he looks at the "potential client", that "equal exchange philosophy", just by looking at such a person, you know he is selling smth, and you also know you'll buy whatever he sells when he stops talking...

the purpose of his bragging and overstating his contribution is to gain trust from and bond with realm team members. Chief Wei tasked him to discover their real identities, so he is just trying to get closer to them.
I also think next episodes will be more interesting because we'll get to know who they are, which special skills they possess and why Guardians are insufficient to protect the realm (actually, we've already got a few hints why).

I've noticed the resemblance but wasn't 100% sure. It was fun: "If you don't want the food, I'll give it to the dog". The entire prison scene was cute, a good ouverture to a comedy, with a fly on that food ended in spider's web, the spider mashed on ML's cheek... all those little gags, lol, Deng Ke is a good director.

glad to be of some help ☺️
Hope you'll enjoy it. I love JoL (JoL2 even more) and can't understand the buzz allegedelly fueled by JoL fans against this drama. Of course it must differ from JoL, it's an another drama, not a replica of JoL.
Happy watch, happy New Year!

I agree.
Besides, it adds to the fun knowing this style is a sort of costume designer's "signature" 😁👌

do you remember this actress from New Life Begins? Her character there was similar, she appeared as in her own loop, bothering about her own stuff and not much attached or interested in the ML. The comfort zone roles of this actress are probably such detached characters, who slowly grow on the audience to be liked - as you've stated yourself,
She is not a bully, she is a sort of a victim, too, constantly compared to her better (more efficient. talented and skilled) half-sister, eager to prove she can also contribute to the fame of her brother, who's a CP, but defined as "mediocre". It's not her fault to be upbrought in the imperial family with such a high inner competitevness which is not only the competition between (male) princes in their abilities to succeed the throne but also the competition between multiple consorts and their original clans (which blood, upbringing/status adds more value to the imperial blood?)
Although this drama is a fantasy, it still follows (even gives for granted) certain patterns from real history of humankind regarding imperial, royal, noble behaviour. Actually, only one imperial clan in the history of the world, the Ottoman dynasty, set a different pattern for succession: only the strongest survives. The early Ottoman emperors (sultans and kaysers of the Rum, because they were both authocratic Asian emperors and ceasars of the Eastern Roman Empire) were all born by the slaves, either abducted good looking girls or tribute princesses of conquered kingdoms, their status were the same: slaves, the sultan was not allowed to marry a normal woman or whom he wanted, he could have mated only with slaves. And they usually gave birth to only one (male) child. The designated successor (who usually had a position of a governor of the Anatolian city of Manissa) had a legal right to kill all his half brothers, together with their mothers and eventual sisters. When this extreme cruelty and menslaughter stopped and the "concubines" were sorted from the noble clans of that empire, that was - paradoxically - the turning point towards the overall decline of the Ottoman Empire.
So, drop our logic when we are in the imperial domain ☺️

yes, I've thought the same, the slightly wavy style is similar... till the XQ dancing scene, Gu YanXi could have not sway his ponytail in that way, so I deduce Qian's wig is better 😁

It isn't clear yet, but judging from trailers, there are more than one, demons and mortals, including the emperor himself. During their conversation, the Chief of Guardians and Alchemy Supervisor have shown certain discontent with how things are going in the Dafeng (both external, with borders in chaos, and internal threats, like the corrupted marquese, deliberately kept in power by the emperor to balance other ministers' power) and that they needed an "out of the box" thinking person for the Guardians...

the characters are simplier, less grayish in comparison to JoL, gray characters are a distinctive trait just for JoL. This doesn't imply the characters in GoD lack depth or aren't smart, they are just depicted with different (and more comical) vibe.
The Head of Guardians (Wei Yuan) is similar to Chen Ping Ping in his position and (powerful political) role but he doesn't have that strange special bond with ML (and I suppose neither with the emperor, we'll see)...
The relations are not as angsty (at least for now) as in JoL.
All in all, power struggles - we've loved in JoL - seems not to be as important as in JoL, but they are present in this drama, too

1. Although different (one is sucked into a game, the other is "reborn") Xu Qian and Fan Xian have similar background. They both belong to/have knowledge of another (our) universe, which adds a gear to their skills.
2. Guardians and Overwatch Department from JOL have very similar tasks and objectives: intelligence, investigation, keeping in check power undercurrents...
3. Although the genres of two dramas differ (being GoD more isekai and more comedy than JoL), Xu Qian and FX both basically "rise up the ranks" through merits/tasks they've accomplished. Heroic vibe is also highly similar (relaxed, not taken too seriously, with lot of comedy)
4. Similar smart use of Chinese traditional poetry as an added (aesthetic) value. Fan Xian memorable poems' reciting is changed (to more relaxed and funnier performance, in line with Xu Qian - more comical - character).
5. A lot of side but indispensable characters
6. XQ and FX are both righteous (that's why they are heroes) but they also both possess certain rebel traits.

The similarities actually don't end here, both are HQ productions with great cast etc...

It looks like we'll have a lot of fun with this one

yea, mine, too

You may be right about another person behind Xiao Yishui - the sender of the bag, I'm not categorical about this hypothesis, it still may be some other Zou Mian's rival, but that person must know the way to communicate with profy killers.

Right, we assume the bag was directed to Wei Yue, because she was a part of that gang. But who was the real client of that gang, real sender of the murders on two boats? Zou Mian, through Du Lin. But how Zou Mian could have known Wei Yue is a survivor of the massacre of the gangsters on the boat committed by Du Lin 15 years ago? Beside ZBY, GZ and Wan Fu, the only person who knows she's alive is Xiao Yishui, but he is in prison and he doesn't know who was/is behind Du Lin.
So, the reciepent of the bag could also be another person. We all "feel there is a lot more to Zhao Li than meets the eye", as you've said. He could have also been a hidden pawn, a killer known to the sender and with the same pattern of "communication" (via bag with a sign and money). Zhao Li is the first person who discovers the bag hidden by ZBY and knows the content of the order who to kill. His attitude towards Qining (ie. the person who should be murdered) is unnaturaly clingy, why would he try to be close to a person who is to be murdered?
The relationship between Zou Mian and his foster daughter is not idyllic, we know that from her conversation with the eunuch who is the second victim of the "hat-demon", she definitely doesn't want Zou Mian to know about her business.
Consequently, while Zou Mian still can be the sender of the bag (and order to kill his foster daughter), the person behind two hat-demon murders is highly probably... Qining, she is the only person (we can see for the moment) who had motives to kill those two persons. Especially by murdering her aide, she could have raised a suspicion she was the real target of that hat-murder with purpose to obtain greater protection from the authorities. Her behaviour is too much, too provocative and explicit to be true. Maybe she already suspects somebody (foster father?) wants to kill her and she orchestrated all that hat-demon hype to protect herself.

I believe Zou Mian's enemy is still hidden to the audience and, before speculating who this person is, we should focus on side details. What I haven't understood is to whom the bag with money and order to kill Qiniang was actually directed, was it Wei Yue? In that case, the person who sent the bag knows her identity as a former pirate/killer. This is the first detail. The second is: both hat demon victims were disgusting persons, the first was a brute abuser, the second a creepy eunuch sent as an aide (and spy) to Qiniang by her foster father. Paradoxiacally, the person who had a motive to kill them both was Qiniang herself: the first murder lowered the prices of real estate market she invests in, the second was a spy.

Song Dynastypedia is a gem in a gem. I like the opening quotes, too, they all relate to the content of a singular episode. I am sure I'll rewatch this drama several times

yup 😁

😁👌

a grounded character like WY is more bothered by the fact the vixen snatched away the property she was eying for a year. She loves her husband despite it irritates her when he occasionally becomes complacent (and then she must keep him in check). I think she is aware the vixen is not seriously after her husband, just provoking and playing games.